A Persian was one day talking to an English missionary and asked why our King did not annex Persia.“It is not right,” said the missionary, “to take what belongs to someone else, and Persia belongs to your Shah.”

“Still your King is surely bound to do as the Bible tells him, and the Bible tells him to annex it.”

“Where does the Bible say that?”

“Does it not say that if you see your neighbour’s ox or ass fallen into a pit you are to pull it out? And Persia is an ass fallen into a pit, and your King should pull her out.”

Yes, Persia has indeed fallen into a pit, and we must pull her out, but the pit is not simply one of political difficulty, it is the pit of Muhammadanism, Persia’s most real difficulty, and we must annex Persia for the King of Kings. As long as the Persians are Muhammadans lying and dishonesty will be the rule, cruelty and injustice will go hand in hand, the poor will be oppressed, the girls and women will be treated as inferior creatures, the children will be liable to overwork and cruelty, and religious persecution will continue. And the Persians are finding out that they are in the pit and they are struggling to get out, they are crying to us for help. Are we going to help them?

Thousands of Muhammadans in Persia are dissatisfied with their religion, and are looking for something better. Many are trying a dissenting form of Muhammadanism, called Babiism, but many are looking to Christianity for help.

At first they distrusted the Christians, and Christian work was constantly hindered or stopped. Now they have learnt to know and trust the Christians, and the work is not greatly interfered with. Indeed everywhere the Persians are asking for teachers and doctors, for schools and hospitals, and for Christian teaching.

If we do not help them in their search after the Way, the Truth, and the Light, Muhammad’s mistake, which has caused so much misery, may be repeated, and Christianity rejected in favour of some new religion made to suit the needs of the moment, but not the needs of eternity. We must all put our shoulder to the wheel to prevent that.

The Persians are well worth an effort. Numbers of Babis went to their death in 1903 rather than deny their prophet, and even children have stood persecution for Christ. “I have a foolish husband,” said one little girl. “He says he will beat Jesus Christ out of me, but he can only beat my body, and Jesus Christ is in my heart, so he cannot beat Him out.”

And the Persians are naturally a religious people, and if their religious energy could be turned from dead works, formal prayers, fastings, pilgrimages, divining,—turned to the service of the true and living God, what a splendid people they might be again, what a force for God in Asia, and in the world. For the wave of true religious life would act again on us and help us on. God grant we may yet see the Persian, stunted as he is by Muhammadanism, grow up to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. And what is our part in this great work? It is threefold.

1. Prayer. Persia wants our prayers. God wants our prayers for Persia. We none of us know all the power and possibilities of prayer, and most of us are surprised when we get direct and obvious answers to our prayers. It takes us a long time to find out that God answers all our prayers, but He does. And there are many in Persia who need our prayers: the missionaries; the converts, often standing alone in a Muhammadan house or even in a village or in a quarter of the town, with no Christian friend to encourage them; the inquirers, perplexed as to the truth, or struggling with their fears of confessing the Saviour in Whom they have learnt to believe; the untouched Muhammadans, oppressing or oppressed; the schools, the hospitals and dispensaries, and the services held week by week in the name of Jesus Christ.

2. Giving. We may help to send out missionaries and to keep up the schools and hospitals, either by giving some of our money, or our time and work. Have you only five loaves and two small fishes? Our Lord can use them to feed five thousand men besides women and children.

3. Personal service. We cannot all be missionaries in the foreign field. No, but those who cannot give themselves for foreign service can do “garrison duty” at home. People often try to dissuade missionaries from going abroad, telling them they are wanted at home. But they ought not to be wanted at home; every Christian who cannot go abroad ought to be doing his share of the work at home, so that those who can go abroad may be spared.

And you who read this book, if you want to help forward God’s kingdom in heathen and Muhammadan lands, set to work now at once to fit yourselves to work as Christian teachers, that you may be ready to take your place in the ranks here or there as the great Captain places you. Get to know your Bibles well, studying them if possible with commentaries or aids. Do not let shyness stand in the way of your undertaking direct Christian work if you are old enough. Do your lessons or your work thoroughly and well, and so make yourselves more fit to be used when the time comes. Get into good habits of healthy living and simple food. Put away all unkind words and thoughts and learn to live in charity with all men. Be regular in your prayers morning and evening, and if possible get a regular time for midday prayer, even if it is only two minutes, but speak to God too all through the day—get into the habit of turning to Him at all times. For whether we work here at home or far away in foreign lands we can only do God’s work by keeping in close touch with Him.